GeoffKait has it right. Its not about drivers, efficiency, box type, ported/not, amp type- it's about the ability of all the system elements (from source to speaker) to cover the dynamic range of the source and at the level you want it to play and STILL have significant headroom (distortion free power or SPL to spare). So lots of combinations of drivers, box types, amp types can sound effortless. It's how you combine and match elements-what goes with what-that becomes difficult to achieve.
A combo of amp and speaker may work but it has a SPL limit until some sort of clipping/limitation (preamp input overload, amp clip, speaker break up, etc) occurs. One SPL level can sound effortless but a small increase of just 3dB (3dB louder requires twice the power) clips the system. Your ear detects extremely small amounts of distortion. Real music can have huge swings in dynamic range (real life can have a 60-70dB above ambient level dynamic range). Maybe a gigantic live PA can cover that, but not a stereo system. That's why we all say larger power amps generally make our systems sound better, we gain dynamics.
That's why some of us swear by high efficiency speakers: suddenly our system has more dynamic range with the amp we already own. I know a Klipschorn was the first time I ever heard dynamics and it was a revelation! High efficiency speakers often have qualities some of us don't like, like limited dispersion (horns), or poor bandwidth, but we often live with those issues to have the dynamics. Nothing wrong with that choice. This is exactly what a speaker designer does, trade off one benefit to gain something else. A clever designer can address weaknesses by designing in an application. Klipschorn corner horns for example:
1) super efficient horn (addressing improved dynamics from very small amplifiers),
2) appears to cover more listening area situated in a corner (addressing horn limited dispersion) and
3) couples the speaker to the corner for bass boost (addressing horn limited LF bandwidth).
Brilliant engineering example balancing everything to achieve real life higher performance!
Brad
Lone Mountain
A combo of amp and speaker may work but it has a SPL limit until some sort of clipping/limitation (preamp input overload, amp clip, speaker break up, etc) occurs. One SPL level can sound effortless but a small increase of just 3dB (3dB louder requires twice the power) clips the system. Your ear detects extremely small amounts of distortion. Real music can have huge swings in dynamic range (real life can have a 60-70dB above ambient level dynamic range). Maybe a gigantic live PA can cover that, but not a stereo system. That's why we all say larger power amps generally make our systems sound better, we gain dynamics.
That's why some of us swear by high efficiency speakers: suddenly our system has more dynamic range with the amp we already own. I know a Klipschorn was the first time I ever heard dynamics and it was a revelation! High efficiency speakers often have qualities some of us don't like, like limited dispersion (horns), or poor bandwidth, but we often live with those issues to have the dynamics. Nothing wrong with that choice. This is exactly what a speaker designer does, trade off one benefit to gain something else. A clever designer can address weaknesses by designing in an application. Klipschorn corner horns for example:
1) super efficient horn (addressing improved dynamics from very small amplifiers),
2) appears to cover more listening area situated in a corner (addressing horn limited dispersion) and
3) couples the speaker to the corner for bass boost (addressing horn limited LF bandwidth).
Brilliant engineering example balancing everything to achieve real life higher performance!
Brad
Lone Mountain